Monday, March 3, 2014

3 March 2013

Birthdays
Jessica Biel b. 1982 (Total Recall, Blade: Trinity, Next)
Julie Bowen b. 1970 (Lost, The Last Man on Planet Earth, Multiplicity)
Miranda Richardson b. 1958 (Maleficent, Harry Potter, Southland Tales, Sleepy Hollow [movie], Merlin)
Laura Ziskin b. 1950 died 12 June 2011 (producer, Spider-Man 1, 2, and 3)
Estaban Maroto b. 1942 (illustrator)
Robert Shaye b. 1939 (producer, The Mortal Instruments, The Golden Compass, The Last Mimzy, The Lord of the Rings, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Xtro, Critters)
James Doohan b. 1920 died 20 July 2005 (Star Trek)
Harold J. Stone b. 1913 died 18 November 2005 (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, Twilight Zone, The Invisible Boy)

There are attractive women on the birthday list if I wanted to go with Pretty Girl = Picture Slot and Harold J. Stone is a great Oh That Guy actor. But if "iconic" is trump, and it usually is, Jimmy Doohan will be in the Picture Slot on March 3rd for as long as I write this blog. Besides playing Scotty on Star Trek, it should also be noted that Doohan was a D-Day vet.

Many happy returns to the living on the list, and to the dead, thanks for the memories, and to James Doohan, thank you for your service.
  
 
Predictor: OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: Mexico City may hold two distinctions by 2000. It will be the world's largest city with 32 million people and also the world's most polluted city.

Reality: This prediction is pretty strong. Mexico City was the most populous city in the world in 2000 according to this website maintained by Iowa State, though they listed the population at 26 million. It's hard to find reliable data on most polluted cities at any given time, but in 1992 Mexico City was considered the most polluted city on earth by the W.H.O. Recent news reports say the situation has improved dramatically in the past two decades and it is no longer even listed in the world's top ten most polluted cities. Unlike most populous lists, most polluted lists are very subjective and it's easy to find lists published a few months apart with almost no agreement. For example, this list from 2013 published in Time and compiled by the W.H.O. doesn't mention Dehli or Beijing, which this report from 2014 lists as the top two.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another Ray Kurzweil prediction for 2009, and this week I am not in a lenient grading mood.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

4 comments:

  1. Jessica Biel was also in Next with Nicholas Cage. It was a movie that was completely off my radar, which I ended up watching after going through a list of Phillip K. Dick adaptations. Not bad, but not terribly memorable, either.

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    1. It is far from the worst in Cage's ouevre.

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    2. Thanks, Lockwood. I didn't recognize the title as sci-fi on imdb.com, but it has been added to the list.

      ZRMcD: That would be a useful list, the stankiest stank Nicolas Cage has made. He has gone so far over the top so often, it can be hard to remember how good he was in Red Rock West and of course Raising Arizona. I think we need a list of people making their choices and ranking them from most hated to least.

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    3. Vampire's Kiss has got to be near the bottom. The scenery budget must have been tripled on that, he ate so much of it.

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Traveler! Have you news... FROM THE FUTURE?